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Angels and Dragons - Unexplained Works of Art in Dragonflight
Dragonflight
Publié
22/07/2022 à 20:31
par
Archimtiros
There are a ton of new things to explore within Dragonflight, but one piece of in-game art that caught our eye is a set of murals depicting four angelic figures and four seemingly familiar dragons.
Spoilers and Speculation Ahead!
It's still unclear exactly where the mural will appear, although it could be part of the new capital city of
Valdrakken
.
There are so many questions here, it's hard to know where to begin. The mural of angelic figures was seen in Ulduar, but always felt out of place, as it's never been a major style of Warcraft iconography, especially not alongside dragons. At first glance, it might seem as though they represent the titans (or titan keepers) which empowered the original dragon aspects, but they weren't all female and probably wouldn't have such overtly human features in a time before humans ever existed on Azeroth. The four dragons make more sense within the context of the Warcraft universe, while another image of a cherub-like whelp suggests that these murals are merely part of a larger piece.
The Dragon Aspects
It seems very apparent that the red, green, and blue dragons are meant to be
Alexstrasza
,
Ysera
, and either
Malygos
or
Kalecgos
(who actually have extremely similar dragon form models, though the swept-back horns suggest this is meant to be Kalecgos), but the fourth dragon is a mystery, as none of the aspects or leaders of any dragon flight have ever been purple. In fact, the only purple dragon seen in Dragonflight up to this point is Raszageth the Storm-Eater, a proto-drake involved in the events of the Azure Span and
Vault of the Incarnates
raid.
Raszageth the Storm-Eater is the most purple dragon we've seen in Dragonflight so far, but the proto-drake has a much different visual profile.
This would almost seem to be a dead giveaway, except it doesn't make sense for a brand new raid boss to be depicted in a mural alongside the primary aspects. More importantly, the dragons depicted in the mural clearly aren't proto-drakes, which would seem to exclude Raszageth. Perhaps the mural represents some kind of aspiration for the raid boss, some future in which Raszageth transcends her proto form the way the rest of the aspects did thousands of years ago, but considering
her storyline in the Azure Span
involves trying to destroy the Blue Dragonflight, it still seems unlikely that the Purple and the Blue would be represented side by side.
Deathwing's Legacy
A much more straightforward theory is that this purple dragon could simply be an off-color representation of the Black Dragonflight, since rebuilding the brood is a major story arc in Dragonflight. Though purple may seem an odd choice here, Onyxia and Sinestra both had purple coloration alongside their traditional black scales, mainly around their wings and horns. Several of Sinestra's Twilight dragon offspring also had purple scales, but all the ones we known about are deceased, so it seems unlikely that they would suddenly rise to a position of such prominence to be shown beside the more well-known aspects.
The curvature of the horns are very similar to Wrathion's dragon form, though the black dragon is clearly not purple.
Still, we do know that Wrathion, Ebyssian, and Sabellian are all competing to shrug off the legacy of Deathwing and reestablish the Black Dragonflight, and it's completely possible that an entirely new leader emerges from within the Dragon Isles. Perhaps a long-lost broodmother from before Neltharion's corruption resurfaces, or another black dragon that was left behind could rise to a position of prominence, but this possibility only raises further questions. Most importantly, even if the black dragons redeem themselves and rejoin their brethren, why there are only four shown and what happened to the Bronze?
Infinite Timelines and Possibilities
The Bronze Dragonflight is known for being very aloof, rarely interacting with the present timeline or the affairs of mortals, instead fixated on the passage of time and potential futures. We've already seen the result of this, as Nozdormu is (or at least was) fated to become Murozond and lead the Infinite Dragonflight to the End Times, and although we averted this future and even defeated the twisted bronze aspect during the events of Cataclysm, some variation of that event still remains a potential future.
Nozdormu is fated to become Murozond in at least one timeline, but what if he could become something else in another?
We also know that the Infinite Dragonflight will be part of the expansion storyline, even directly mentioning Murozond during the new Uldaman dungeon, so we may be on to something here. Murozond isn't exactly purple either, and by all appearances would seem to be a bad guy in every timeline, so it's unlikely that he's meant to be depicted in the mural alongside the other protectors of Azeroth, but if Nozdormu can become Murozond in a timeline where the Infinite become evil... who's to say there isn't another timeline in which the Infinite becomes a force for good? Whether or not that's the case, it's interesting to think that perhaps this purple dragon depicted in the mural isn't black or bronze, but an entirely new guardian of Azeroth.
A Primal Tomorrow
Something else which stands out is the apparent age of the mural, which appears cracked, faded, and worn. This suggests it's not a new creation, undermining any reasoning for only depicting four flights instead of five... unless it's from a future not yet come to pass. A recently datamined map titled
Primalist Tomorrow
suggests a series of events in which the Primalist proto-dragon followers of Galakrond succeed in enslaving the other dragons (and presumably the world), and given the Bronze Dragonflight's predilection for time travel, exploring such a setting isn't outside the realm of possibility. If we do happen to visit a timeline in which that happened, perhaps that is where we uncover this mural, helping to explain its faded form.
The End Times may not be the only future where evil dragons win.
The Primalists are proto-dragons aligned with Galakrond instead of the Titans, who warred with the Aspects and remained in isolation on the Dragon Isles. Most notably, they are led by four elemental incarnates said to be on par with the dragon aspects, and while they don't look anything like the dragons depicted in the mural, it's an awfully intriguing coincidence. For now it's all guesswork, as these images clearly don't tell the whole story, but it's given us several interesting "what if" themes to explore. While we can expect to learn more about how the story of Dragonflight will unfold as alpha testing continues, only time will tell!
None of the current dragons may be purple, but one version of
Hearthstone's Galakrond
is! Perhaps in this timeline, the Primalists evolved instead of the Aspects.
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